[Gemini III] The Earth seen by the first Gemini astronauts, from the...

[Gemini III] The Earth seen by the first Gemini astronauts, from the first American two-manned spacecraft. John Young, 23 March 1965. Printed 1965. Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-65–18742]. 20.3×25.4 cm (8×10 in), with NASA caption numbered “S-65–18742” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “S-65–18742” in red in top margin (NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas).

Literature: Earth Photographs from Gemini III, IV and V (NASA SP-129), pg. 8.

A very rare photograph: there was no plan for photography during the Gemini III mission. Overwhelmed by the beauty of the Earth, Gus Grissom and John Young took pictures of their own during the three orbits.

Northern Mexico (Sonora, Baja California just above the Gulf of California) is in the foreground of this photograph looking northwest along the orbital track (orbit 2), with California and Arizona in the background. The Imperial Valley in the center, with the Salton Sea above under the clouds. The light-brown circular area at the lower right is the Sonoran Desert.

“There is a clarity, a brilliance to space that simply doesn’t exist on Earth, even on a cloudless summer’s day in the Rockies, and from nowhere else can you realize so fully the majesty of our Earth and be so awed at the thought that it’s only one of untold thousands of planets.” Gus Grissom (from his posthumous 1968 book Gemini: A Personal Account of Man’s Venture Into Space, p. 108).

From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken:

002:59:41 Young: Man, just pitch over and I’ll take a picture. 002:59:41 Young: Can you pitch it down and toward the States, Gus? [...] 003:00:03 Young: Can you come across a ground tracking looking down like that, Gus? (Pilot demonstrating with hands on Orbital Path Display). 003:00:06 Grissom: Sideways? 003:00:07 Young: Yes, sideways, and pitch down 90. Will this hurt alinement? -- because I can see some targets up north. [...] 003:00:57 Young: Here, there is a target down there. 003:00:59 Grissom: Where? 003:01:02 Young: You’ve got to pitch the nose down. Right by the nose. 003:01:07 Grissom: That green spot? (The Imperial Valley) 003:01:08 Young: No, down -- like straight down. 003:01:11 Grissom: I don’t know what you see. 003:01:12 Young: There’s all kinds of stuff. See that town down there? 003:01:17 Grissom: Where? 003:01:18 Young: Right around here on the right. 003:01:20 Grissom: I can’t see over there, John. I’ll roll back to the right so we can both see. Ah yeah, there is one right down below here. Let’s see if I can, get it. [...] 003:02:36 Grissom: Got the pictures? 003:02:37 Young: Yes. 003:02:38 Grissom: That is right up from the tip of the Gulf of California, isn’t it? 003:02:39 Young:Yes. 003:02:41 Grissom: I don’t see the Salton Sea.

Condition Report:Creasing to bottom right margin, minor 0.5 cm tear to top center white margin, otherwise excellent condition.

Category:Photos ▸ Vintage photographs